Homelessness in Our Community

On any given day in Florida, approximately 58,000 people are estimated to be living in shelters, on the streets or in places not meant for human habitation (DCF Office on Homelessness, 2009). Based on the results of The Big Bend Homeless Coalition’s 2009 Point-in-Time Count and Survey, 741 people are estimated to be homeless in Tallahassee on any given day. Of those people:
283 were children (38%)

458 were adults (62%)

21% of survey respondents met the definition of chronically homeless

22% of survey respondents were veterans

47% had one or more disabling conditions; the most commonly reported condition was a physical disability

Mailing and Street Address
2729 W. Pensacola Street
Tallahassee, FL 32304

Continuum of Care
The Continuum of Care is a community plan to organize and deliver housing and services to meet the specific needs of people who are homeless as they move to stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. It includes action steps to end homelessness and prevent a return to homelessness.

The Coalition serves as the Lead Agency for the area’s Continuum of Care, which is the array of services available to assist people experiencing homelessness in reaching self-sufficiency. We hold monthly network meetings for all agencies in the Continuum, at which time coordination of services and education of providers and other stakeholders occurs. We also conduct a biennial survey of people experiencing homelessness and an annual gaps analysis, to determine our Continuum’s priorities as they relate to ending & preventing homelessness. These processes exemplify the critical role that collaboration between the coalition, homeless service providers and other stakeholders play in creating an effective Continuum of Care for persons experiencing homelessness in our community. The Coalition also applies for and disperses federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and state funding through the Department of Children & Families’ Office of Homelessness.

HOPE Community
HOPE Community is a transitional housing program for homeless families, single women, and single men. Our purpose is to provide a safe and structured living environment where each resident is empowered to recover from homelessness and become self-sufficient. We accomplish this goal by partnering with residents to pursue a recovery-based program, maintain a steady source of income, and find stable housing. HOPE Community is the only program of its kind in our eight-county Big Bend area. Over 70% of HOPE residents move into stable housing.

Since 2005, HOPE Community helped over 785 people – including more than 300 children – move to stable housing, ending their episode of homelessness. HOPE Community has a six-month time frame for residents participating in the program. HOPE provides quality services and housing for 100-115 at any given time.

Home Plate
Home Plate is a rental assistance program for persons who were homeless for more than a year. Support services are provided by partnering agencies to enable program participants to remain successfully housed. This year the Home Plate Program helped 55 chronically homeless people with disabilities move into, and stay in, permanent housing. More than 85% of Home Plate residents stay in stable housing in this program for more than a year.

Home Front
The Big Bend area's new permanent housing complex for homeless veterans.

HMIS
The Big Bend Homeless Coalition administers the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for our eight county catchment area.

The HMIS is a community-wide database that houses demographic information on homeless individuals served, as well as on usage of services for homeless persons in our community. The goal of this system is to help get a better picture of who we are serving and what homelessness looks like on any given day in our community.

The aggregated data resulting from the Big Bend Information System helps inform policy decisions that affect persons experiencing homelessness in our community. This information enables our community to better understand the causes of homelessness, current trends, program effectiveness, and gaps in existing systems, which in turn empowers us to work toward ending homelessness.

Please visit our dedicated HMIS web site: https://sites.google.com/site/hmisbigbend/home